Irvine : Teachers to Vote on New Pact With 3% Pay Raise

Irvine’s teachers, who went on a one-day strike this month, will vote on a new contract within the next two weeks, a union spokesman said Thursday.

Dan Saling, executive director of the South Orange County Educators, said the union had hammered out a tentative agreement with the Irvine Unified School District late Tuesday night. The proposal calls for a 3% pay raise, retroactive to last July 1, Saling said. “It’s very close in total money to what we were asking,” he added.

Saling said the exact date for a ratification vote has not been set but probably will be in the next two weeks.

In addition to the pay hike, the proposed contract provides for mandatory union membership. Saling said the contract’s only exceptions are for what he called “ c onscientious objectors,” teachers who refuse to pay union dues, about $300 annually, because of personal beliefs. Those teachers, Saling said, would be required to give a like amount of money to a charity.

A separate vote of all teachers will be held on the agency shop provision, Saling said.

He said the new pact, which is a modification of an existing two-year contract set to expire June 30, also would put a modified cap on fringe benefit costs. The new contract would be expanded another year, thus expiring June 30, 1986.

Contract talks have been going on since last April. A. Stanley Corey, superintendent of the district, said, “We’re certainly glad to have arrived at a contract that is fair and equitable. This contract will allow our teachers to be among the best paid in Orange County.”

Corey said salaries with the proposed hike would range from $19,084 to $37,183. That, he said, would place Irvine teachers “in the top three” of the 12 unified school districts in Orange County.